Sadao Furunuma Reveals Untold Stories of Noritake Kinashi & Machida Zelvia’s Tsuyoshi Kuroda

Six-time National High School Soccer Championship winner and three-time Inter-High champion, Sadao Furunuma nurtured Japan national team players such as Yasuhito Honda and Koji Nakata and is revered as a mentor by Noritake Kinashi and Machida Zelvia’s coach Tsuyoshi Kuroda.

At the recent National High School Soccer Championship, Teikyo (Tokyo) attracted attention as it made its 35th appearance after a 15-year hiatus. The man who once led Teikyo to a record-tying six championship titles in the postwar era is the legendary former coach, Sadao Furunuma (85).

In addition to Osamu Maeda (59, former Yokohama F), Furunuma nurtured numerous talents, including Hiromitsu Isogai (55, former Gamba Osaka), Yasuhito Honda (55, former Kashima Antlers), Koji Nakata (45, former Kashima Antlers), and Tatsuya Tanaka (42, former Urawa Reds).

Among them, one of the figures who most widely popularized Teikyo’s name was Noritake Kinashi (62) of the comedy duo “Tunnels.”

[Part 1] Former Teikyo High School Soccer Coach Sadao Furunuma’s Golden Words: “There’s Always a Reason Why a Team Becomes No.1”

Kinashi and Ishibashi: “How long are you going to keep doing this?”

“(Kinashi) had good technical skills. He was excellent at the pull move in dribbling (a feint where the ball is pulled back to evade an opponent) and had solid technique. However, he lacked a bit of speed and defensive awareness (laughs). He was part of the generation that won our third national championship, alongside Atsushi Natori (63), who later played in the Japan Soccer League. Unfortunately, I had to leave him out of the main tournament squad.”

However, off the pitch, he truly shone.

“During the summer training camp’s final-day talent show, Kinashi stole the spotlight. He would do impersonations of me and such. After graduating, I heard that he had teamed up with Ishibashi (Takaaki), a baseball club alumnus, and was performing at a show pub in Akasaka. When I went to watch, they were doing a skit, but it was completely unfunny (laughs). I remember telling them, ‘How long are you going to keep doing this?’ And yet, here we are over 40 years later, truly impressive.”

When Tsuyoshi Kuroda (54) took over as Machida Zelvia’s head coach after leading Aomori Yamada High School to three national championships, many were skeptical, questioning whether a high school coach could succeed in professional soccer. However, in their J1 debut season last year, he led them to a title race, finishing in third place.

Just as the young Konuma once learned from Osamu Nagaike and Sho Nishido, Kuroda has also spoken about learning coaching principles from Konuma.

“When Kuroda was coaching Aomori Yamada, he asked me to observe their training for about a week. I only shared some basic ideas about the training we did at Teikyo, but I never dictated details. I’ve never imposed my views on younger coaches or players.”